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May 2022

Industry Internship Application Guide

If you are reading this, then you are at least curious about what industry internships are and how to get one. You are in the right place. I will take a moment to describe what I mean by “industry,” who my audience is, and why you may (or may not) want to pursue one. Then I will talk about steps you can take to increase your chance of landing one.

Okay, so what is and industry internship?

I am in the field of information science, smack dab in the middle of more technical fields like computer science/engineering and the social sciences (and further on the humanities). Some people in my discipline are bonafide programmers who have social facets of their work and others are critical scholars who are applying their background to technology/technologists/tech companies/etc. Needless to say, there is a spectrum of methods, epistemologies, and skillsets. The unifying force are sociotechnical problems.

In my field, the “industry” of industry internships means tech companies. This article is targeted at social scientists trying to intern in these tech companies. The highly sought after being (the now outdated) FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google). However, it is very common to intern at tech adjacent companies like Liberty Mutual, Home Depot, start-ups, FinTech, and the list goes on. The truly delineating factor comes down to what work you will be able to accomplish. Can you research or come close to it? Can you use your existing academic skillset in different ways or for different ends?

A graphic showing the spectrum of industry position descriptions ranging from user experience to data engineer.

This is a *non-exhaustive* list of positions you may find on your search *loosely* correlated with methodological background.

Who can intern in industry?

One of the toughest questions you must answer is “where do I fit in industry?” Industry uses different language, their employees are more obscured, and vary so much place to place. So, let’s use some academic language and try to connect the dots to industry positions and language.

Above is a useful graphic attempting to connect academic methodology terminology with titles you will see in industry. Okay, let’s get this out of the way quickly ***industry has not settled on standard terminology. Your mileage will vary. This isn’t gospel. Obviously read the position descriptions.***

Now that we have that out of the way, the point that I am trying to make is that industry researchers *tend* to care more about methods rather than epistemology or academic process. Why? Probably because methods are easier to understand and are far more actionable. We have a few decades of PhDs doing work and they know what a focus group or interview or regression is. The second point that I want to make is that if you are pursuing a PhD and want to try out industry, you can always find a place where your skillset is valued. Industry folks care a hell lot less about the name of your degree than what you can actually do with it. So, keep that in mind.

Should I intern?

Depending on your discipline (to paint with broad strokes) you probably already have a feeling of what the answer is. From my observation, folks in CS have built this into their plan, interdisciplinary folks in Information Science/Comm/STS can go either way, and humanities folks have less exposure. That being said, you can find a position where you can flex your PhD skills.

Putting that aside, there are few considerations I recommend thinking through before you commit yourself to the task of applying:

    • Do you have a personal interest in working in industry after graduating?
    • What experience would this replace? Would you be TA-ing three classes or having open time to research?
    • Does this help you on the academic job market?
    • Is this the right time? Does it make sense to apply later?
    • How does your committee feel about this decision?
    • How helpful can your committee/academic network be in getting you a position?
    • What will you lose by spending a summer in industry?

Let’s be honest with ourselves, industry internships take up a relatively small amount of time and can offer incredible quality of life benefits. Top tech companies pay very well (equivalent annual salary ~$120,000+), house you for free, and some even offer health care and investment options. I personally support marginalized scholar pursuing these options for no other reason than to recover financially from the destitute lifestyle of most PhD programs.

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DISCLAIMER:
This guide is for people without existing connections to industry. Those without committee members with direct ties to tech companies. Those without parents in the industry. This is for people who aren’t supported and are basically starting from scratch.
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Background

As you may have noticed, this guide is primarily aimed at folks trying to intern in tech, which includes technical and social scientists. Here are some primers:

Building Your Network & Informational Interviews

The first questions you need to answer before you dive too deep into this process are:

    • Do you want to pursue an industry internship?
    • How will this affect your grad school experience?
    • What can you accomplish or learn during an internship?
    • What are these companies looking for in applicants?

All of these questions can be answered through informational interviews.

What are informational interviews? In one sentence, informational interviews are taking advantage of the fact that most people like to talk about themselves. It’s that simple. It represents little risk and effort for the interviewee (it’s just their life) and so much value for interviewer. Informational interviews involve reaching out to folks you know, and importantly folks you don’t know, to learn, learn, learn.

Who should you reach out to for informational interviews?

    • Committee Your committee should know you and your research capabilities better than most. They are also intrinsically motivated to advocate for you. They should also have institutional memory. Even if your committee doesn’t have experience with students interning or any industry connections, but they should know the history of past students who interned and institutional resources to tap into.
    • Graduate Students & Alumni Graduate students tend to be a low-stakes and accessible resource for learning about the nitty-gritty of applying and working in industry. You will hear candid feedback about certain labs and how to take advantage of fringe benefits provided by these companies. Also, these are the people who will be your colleagues and connections when you hit the job market, so invest in these relationships! Use your alumni network. If your department has a history of student interns (or you know which departments do) make sure to find those alumni.
    • Online Connections This is where LinkedIn is redeemed. Setting your profile to “looking for internships,” auditing your connection list, and investigating the connection lists of your close colleagues. All of which can be worth their weight in gold. I personally am a part of a Discord community and a Slack channel that are dedicated to folks researching and working in digital humanities/CSS/digital ethnography/UX/etc. These spaces act as self-curation. Really try to find these spaces to minimize the “doing things the hard way.” Twitter is also redeemed as the de facto space for academics and industry researchers to express their thoughts.
    • Cold Email At some point you are going to exhaust your network. Or, you simply aren’t going to find someone in the exact role you had envisioned. That’s when cold-emailing becomes your strategy. As a person who has been on both the sending and receiving end of these emails, I can say they can be very effective when done well.

How should you approach informational interviews?

The formula for a great informational interview is pretty simple. Be on time, be courteous, ask great questions, and be kind. The interviewee wants to feel valued and seen. Remember, they are doing you a favor, which offers little for them at the end of the day. And if you show that you care and are excited to be in conversation, that’s all you need to do to pay them back.

Finding Applications

Okay, so you’ve answered the question listed above. You know you want to apply and you have a list of places to start applying. You should also have an idea of what these companies are looking for (aside from what’s listed on the

Most major tech companies operate on a rolling basis, so getting these internship announcements ASAP is vital to your success!

I noticed that there seems to be a dichotomy. ABD candidates were often recruited because of a paper they published, their ABD status, or they met industry folks at a conference. Those earlier on typically have to apply through the “front door” by simply applying. So keep in mind that working on your network could accelerate you to an interview.

Applying

For better or worse, tech applications tend to be short. This is great because it lowers the barrier to entry, but is a double-edged sword in that you can’t express why you are a great fit. This specifically hurts those with non-traditional backgrounds or less access to relevant experience.

Tech applications typically involve these elements:

Resume (two pages). Take a look at mine.

Cover letter (rarely), but if you do encounter them, here are a few helpful articles:

    • TBD

Interviews

Data Science Crash Course – Maria Antoniak (Cornell Alumna!)

Offers

Global UX Salary Data Crowdsourcing